unschooling

Friday

There was computer play and Strawberry Shortcake watching.

Gavin rebuilt his Lego game, with new pieces and new directions.  They played with that after he was done setting it up.

Then we began painting the costume again!  Gavin and Lilah set to work painting the entire torso piece blue while I put some more brown on the hair and painted the mask/bandana blue.  We cut and glued some black mesh behind the holes for Gavin to see out of and then painted blue over the exposed bits.

We admired a tomatillo husk from the garden that has weathered and is now just the fibrous bits, like a ball of lace.  It made a beautiful shadow in the autumn sunlight.

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Soon the torso piece was ready for us to draw the details on in pencil and begin painting them.

I painted the white, black and dark blue and the kids worked on the gold.

While we were waiting for those to dry we went to the park.

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Gavin rode his bike and Lilah and I walked.  We brought some hotwheels to race around.

There was monkey bar crossing and hanging upside down.

We looked at how objects make crisp, clear shadows down low to the ground but vague, soft-edged shadows up higher.

And more car racing.

When we got home it was time to put the finishing touches on the costume.  We added the second coat of gold because it was not very opaque the first time and then I painted the lightning on and did various other touch-ups.  Gavin tried it on and it looks great!  He’s very excited!  I am very happy it’s ready to go!

Lilah put on her skates and played tag with Gavin around the house until dinner was ready.

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unschooling

Friday

They started with coolmathgames.com.

Then we made a visit to the pediatrician.  Afterward we played with legos and listened to Ella Fitzgerald.  We discovered a new favorite song:  Chew, chew chew (Chew Your Bubblegum)! We’ve been singing it off and on all day.

We watched Fossil Rock Anthem, a parody of Party Rock Anthem that’s about geology and that led to some other kids fossil videos on youtube.

After lunch we went Tracy Aviary.

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We watched the ducks and pelicans and identified a few species.  We looked at the Andean Condor, Andy and the golden and bald eagles.  One of the golden eagles was having lunch while we watched.  We read about how the eagles they have at our Aviary were injured in the wild and wouldn’t have survived on their own.

We made our way toward the the flamingos, swans and macaws and met a peacock on the walk.  Lilah was so proud that she was able to say still enough and silent enough not to scare it away.

Then we had a nice long rest in the shady Owl Forest to look at all the different owls and watched some Patagonian parrots fly from keeper to keeper for treats.  We even got to see an owl fly in practice for their bird show.  It was beautiful.

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Lilah did some feather collecting.

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We spotted a quail bunch wandering and the kids crept slowly and quietly after them to get a better look.

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After we got home, we ate and then headed to our neighborhood park for a bit of swinging and biking to end the day.

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